


The Snow Remembered

by fanfoolishness (LoonyLupin), LoonyLupin



Series: Chapter and Verse (Varric Tethras x Min Hawke) [22]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pre-Crestwood, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25886725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/fanfoolishness, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLupin/pseuds/LoonyLupin
Summary: Hawke and Varric catch a moment on the battlements.  Perhaps it's nothing.  Perhaps it's something.
Relationships: Female Hawke/Varric Tethras
Series: Chapter and Verse (Varric Tethras x Min Hawke) [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/936669
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	The Snow Remembered

Varric shivered, walking as quickly as he could up the stairs to the battlements, his legs burning as he crested the top of the human-sized stairs. Even with the exertion and his leather duster, he still felt half-frozen. A Kirkwall-born dwarf was never meant for temperatures like these. 

He'd hoped, after the frozen village of Haven, that the Inquisition would make its new home somewhere warmer. Ha!

He made a mental note to bring it up to the Inquisitor. _Now if you could just keep it from snowing so damn much, you’d have a pretty sweet place here at Skyhold…_ He glared at each snowflake as it fell. **  
**

He rounded the corner and saw Hawke waiting for him, snow collecting like stars in her dark hair. She looked perfectly comfortable in her armor and a thick tartan scarf, leaning on the wall with her hands tucked against her chest. _Fereldans._ They were all at least a little loony.

“Having a nice stroll, Champion?” he asked. 

She snorted. “Oh, don’t call me that.”

“Fine. Sparrow, then.”

“Much better.” She grinned, flashing uneven front teeth in a bright white smile. “It’s lovely up here in the mountains, even if it is remote. It reminds me of Lothering in the winter. I missed the snow in Kirkwall.”

“What part of it?” said Varric skeptically. “The frostbite? The wind? Or just the general awfulness?”

“The quiet,” Hawke said. “The smell. The softness of it, before it’s collected the day’s footprints. And of course, the snowballs.” She unfolded her arms, revealing two snowballs, one clutched in each gloved hand.

“Don’t you d–” he warned, but before he could get another word out one snowball thwacked him in the chest, and the other exploded on the side of his neck. He howled with cold, then bent down and did the only thing that came naturally; he frantically began packing snow between his hands as fast as he could.

Another dissolve of snow, this time down the back of his neck. He straightened up and whirled a brace of snowballs right back at her; they found their mark on her chest and hip, and she danced away, laughing so hard she almost choked.

“All right, all right,” she said, waving her hands. “That was unfair. You weren’t properly prepared.” Her face was red with laughter.

“Is this why you lured me up here?” Varric accused. "To attack a defenseless dwarf?" Now that his heart was beginning to slow back down to a normal rate, he was colder than ever, and shivered hard enough for her to notice.

He didn’t know what he expected. A joking barb about dwarves and their inability to handle the cold, maybe another snowball from some secret hiding place behind her back. He didn’t expect her smile to fade; didn’t expect the look of concern that crossed her face. And he certainly didn’t expect the way she came toward him, unwrapping her tartan scarf. He hadn’t realized it was so soft until she wrapped it carefully around his neck.

“There," she murmured. "All right?"

"Yeah," he said, lost for words. He breathed deep, the scarf still carrying her scent, and he felt lightheaded in a way that had nothing to do with snowball fights and cold mountain air.

"Anyway... it’s exactly why I lured you up here,” said Hawke. “Few troops come up this way, so the snow is still unspoiled.” She tucked in the ends of the scarf carefully, her hands brushing against his chin, her touch firm but gentle. “But I hadn’t taken into account how you can’t handle the cold. I’m sorry.”

“Hawke, never apologize,” said Varric. “That’s where they get you.” She lingered close to him, and he edged closer. If she asked, he could always say it was because of the cold. He pressed into her side, and she stayed, still and solid against him.

“I needed a distraction, if I’m to be honest. It’s so lonely here,” she said quietly. “Even with all the people. Maybe especially because of all the people.”

“You feel it too?” The words slipped out of him before he could edit the sentence. He winced. It was too much, too vulnerable.

“It could never be Kirkwall,” she said. “And Kirkwall won’t ever be the same, now.”

Varric reached up, resting his arms on the edge of the wall. It was low enough that he could reach, but only barely. It was just another moment that Hawke leaned down, resting her arms beside his, her hand just inches from his.

_Take it_ , he told himself. But instead he took the coward’s way; he looked out at the valleys below, gleaming white beneath the new-fell snow, and he thought he could see why Hawke missed it.

“Nothing’s ever the same for long, Hawke.”

“It’s true,” Hawke said, and there was something new in her voice. She swallowed, taking a deep breath, then reached out. Took his hand, just for a moment. He cursed the gloves between them, but welcomed the weight of her touch. He squeezed back.

“Hawke?”

She pulled away, smiling, but not really looking at him. “Thanks, Varric,” she said, and suddenly straightened up. “I – I’ll see you later. I just remembered something. See you in a bit?” And then she was off, walking quickly with her head down, her arms crossed as if she was cold. 

Varric raised his hand to his neck, soft tartan cloth slipping through his fingertips, and he smiled through the falling snow.

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after the Inquisitor meets Hawke, before Hawke travels to Crestwood. Also, I doodled this for it :)
> 
>   
> 


End file.
